


Fire Away, Fire Away

by notsoperfect



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Acapella, But Niall is in High School, Facebook, Fluffy, Its all because of a shirt, M/M, Matchmaking, Past Narry, Shirt, Singing, Stalking, collage AU, fluffines, harry is kind of like an asshole, niall loves too easily, puppy niall, the malik sisters are younger than zayn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-16 15:53:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2275659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notsoperfect/pseuds/notsoperfect
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall himself end up bringing the shirt to his nose and sniffing. It’s not exactly stink, but it does smell, it smells like smoke and flowers and sweat, like a good kind of sweat (not that there is good kind of sweat smell, now that would be weird) but it’s not bad, it is actually kind of nice, Niall would go as far to say he even likes it</p><p>OR </p><p>The one in which there is Niall, Zayn and a shirt that likes to play matchmaker. (Really. That’s it)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Niall

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is another story gone wrong so whatever. But fair warning it’s not my best work, based on my own life experience. Oh and one more thing, the whole acapella tournament thing is based off how it happens in where I come from, so if I got stuff wrong (which I obviously did) let’s just write it off as artistic liberties or my incapability of doing actually research. Bye, enjoy…
> 
> Oh and title from David Guetta’s titanium, contrary to popular beliefs it actually has something to do with this story, although a little (lot) indirectly.
> 
> Oh and a very, very important thing. Harry is kind of portrayed like an asshole, a good asshole though. I swear I have nothing against him, he is an absolute angel, but when I wrote it roughly it just happened and for some weird reason I could not change it. I am planning on a narry fic just for this cruelty. So just to clear things up, I love Harry Styles.

Niall is not freaking out, he absolutely isn’t. He is a very Calm and cool person. That’s his freaking stereotype for god’s sake; he is the carefree mofo of the school who doesn’t give a shit about anything. And he absolutely love that, love having no worries to ruin him around. But being in high school really flaws his master plan of having no worries and living carefree.

 

And That was the reason Niall was sitting in a dusty old chair, with his shirt soaked wet with chocolate milkshake (extra creamy by the smell he was reeking of), his legs jumping up and down out of nothing other than pure agony and frustration. Yep, he was freaking out, he was freaking out really bad.

 

It seems he is doing a really shitty job at hiding is anxiousness and worry because his friends are right by his side repeating the same things he himself have been playing nonstop on is head for the past 5 minutes.

 

“Niall, we will be fine. You look like you are about to die” Perrie assures him in what she probably thinks is a caring tone, but all Niall does is glare at her and wonder why she is on the team. Then he remembers her sick voice and ability to hit notes no one can, she is harmless too, most of the time at least.

 

“I am about to die Pez, out of shame and humiliation at my sorry excuse of a human life” Excuse him if he was being a bit over dramatic, but he was freaking the fuck out okay.

 

“Niall it’s just a shirt. I am sure we can find a replacement” Perrie says as she takes the empty chair next to him and sits down.

 

“A shirt that have ruined my life. I can’t go out there in this thing-Harry, Harry will be there Pez. I will not make a fool out of myself in front of his curly ass” Niall says as Perrie laughs.

 

Niall suppose Perrie is right, he could just find another one that fits him. But the fact he is on the other side of the country, all of his cloths on a hotel that is 20 minutes away from them does not help his chances. No one had brought a spare either, they decided it would be better to change it in the hotel rather than rush backstage and be late for their performance (out of experience that is).

 

Niall is starting to question why on earth he even decided to join the acapalla team when Perrie suggests that maybe one of the girls would have a spare that he could use. She is lucky that Niall’s glare does not have the power to magically shoot fire, if it did Perrie would not have her pretty face right then. He might be gay, but he is not gay enough to wear a girl’s shirt, not in front of Harry out of all the people on earth. Perrie quickly leaves him alone after that intense glare, with an excuse of dusting up her already perfectly done hair and makeup.

 

Niall just sighs as he buries his face in his hand. But luckily enough josh is running into the small green room, gasping for breath. Niall shoots up from him dusty chair fast enough to make the person sitting behind him fall of their own respective chair and the sudden action of the boy.

 

“Please-Please-I pray to god, please tell me you got a shirt mate. I will love you for the rest of my life if you did” Niall basically begs in front of his friend.

 

“Sorry man, No one’s got one. I highly doubt that Styles has something to do with it. Why did you date him again?” Josh asks as Niall’s face falls. He quietly takes his spot at the dusty chair again with a concentrated frown that could erase all the rainbows on earth.

 

“Because Niall has poor judgment and makes horrible choices such as dating Harry ‘Oh look at me I am better than you’ Styles and not bringing a spare shirt along with him” Lottie who had just completed her makeup says. Niall really regrets letting Lottie in, the beware sign was right there in front of him in the form of her brother, his best friend –another poor judgment decision.

 

“Charlotte, I am in a very homicidal mood today, My mind does not always process the fact that you are my best friend’s sister” Lottie just rolls her eyes before whispering to the girl sitting next to her about man periods and Niall’s gay mood swings.

 

Niall really isn’t a person to freak out about little things and he can see that’s why his team mates are looking at him so strangely, they have never seen him like that. He realizes he would do a lot better if he had someone to blame his catastrophe on, but nope, he was the idiot who forgot to bring a spare shirt on one of the most important day of his life knowing Harry might try something.

 

He decides he should blame Harry. He would not be there half way across the country if he wasn’t competing in the finals of nationwide acapella tournament, he would not be competing if he had not joined the team 2 years ago, he would not have joined the team 2 years ago if he and harry hadn’t broken up, he would not have broken up with him if harry wasn’t such an egomaniac moron, he would not have to suffer Harry’s egomaniac and moronic behavior if he hadn’t started dating him, he would not have started dating him if he hadn’t met him. So yes, all this was Harry’s Fault and only his fault.

 

But putting all the freaking out and over dramatics aside, Niall really wanted to be here, he loved singing and his teammates where his life, and the idea of singing with them and making amazing music in the process was the best thing he ever got the chance to do. He had broken up with Harry over it, When Harry moved to a much richer and prestigious private school just opposite to their own he had forgotten all about his old school and the amazing team he had there, and he for some reason did not want Nail to do anything with his old team and wanted him to be his bitch. It was a spur of the movement thing really, Niall was angry, Although Niall wasn’t on the team back then he was friends with most of the team considering they were Harry’s friends. He had never felt good enough to join them with Harry around, so when Harry decided to be an asshole Niall decided to the right opposite of what Harry wanted him to do and try it out and just like that as his relationship with Harry ended his relationship acapela and music began. And he never regretted a second of it.

 

Until now that is, because he had gone all this way into the finals with a team that had barely got into the tournament in the past years, just to get his shirt soaked by some girl on Harry’s team and her bloody chocolate milkshake. If Niall wasn’t such a kind person who was already too busy freaking out over his shirt he would have gone and killed Harry because obviously all this was his master plan so he could take the cup for the 6th time in row.

 

Niall is snapped out of his thoughts when Louis busts in shouting out ‘I’ve got one, I’ve got one’. And before Niall has a second to realizes what the over energetic, sassy asshole of a best friend had caught, he us thrusting a blue striped shirt into his hands.

 

“And again, proving that I am the best friend of the year and I have saved your ass again. You should buy me pizza sometimes “Louis says with a bouncy grin matching Niall’s when he sees the shirt. Niall does not have the time to ask who is it from he just throws himself at Louis and the boy gladly hugs back known Niall was worried out of his mind but at the same time making sure his milk shake stain was not effecting Louis own shirt, because god knows the things he had to go through to get that stinky shirt.

 

“Where did you get it though?. Harry had basically ordered everyone not to lend a shirt to the kids of Avalon” Luke says, Luke himself had been on the shirt hunt for a while and had returned baring failure like the others.

 

“Not everyone Lucas, Harry had orders all the all of the acapella teams to not lend a shit to our Nialler here, but he told nothing to the drama department who are practicing in another corner of this stadium” Louis says in his smart ass tone as if saying ‘everyone should praise me I just saved all of your asses by getting Niall a shirt’.

 

“It kind of smells though” Lottie comments as se take a long whiff but quickly shuts up at Louis glare.

 

Just out of pure curiosity, Niall himself end up bringing the shirt to his nose and sniffing. It’s not exactly stink, but it does smell, it smells like smoke and flowers and sweat, like a good kind of sweat (not that there is good kind of sweat smell, now that would be weird) but it’s not bad, it is actually kind in nice, Niall would go as far to say he even likes it. But other than the smell and the fact that it looks like it hasn’t been washed in a while it’s actually simple and comfy. It’s a blue and white striped, button down shirt and the cloth look so soft. For a brief second he wonder about its owner, how the person looks and if the person in just as soft as the shirt

 

“No time for chit chat, we have got like 3 minutes and Niall is still standing there in his milkshake stain” Perrie ushers Niall into the small attached bathroom quickly as Niall’s carefree smile takes the place of the frown that was there minutes ago and he finally breaths out a sighs of relief, completely forgetting about whatever thoughts was occupying his mind.

 

But nevertheless the piece of clothing in his hands suddenly feels like it’s something more, the stitched item bringing him some kind of comfort.

 

 

*********************

 

Louis is a good friend, a great friend actually, especially considering the things he has to put up with just for his friends so yeah, Louis is a great friend and he loves and accepts Niall and whatever choices or actions he make (expect harry of course, but Louis has came to the conclusion Niall was mentally challenged the time he went out with the curly haired jackass, and he was undergoing treatment the whole year he was with harry), Louis was the first person Niall met when he first came from Ireland, when he was nothing more than a tiny boy with an accent no one could understand, Louis was the first person he came out to, the point is Louis loves Niall, and he is a super awesome friend.

 

That is the reason why Louis does not say anything when his blonde best friend falls asleep in the strange shirt although they had spent at least 5 hours in their hotel room after they had won the tournament. Louis just shrugged it off thinking Niall must have forgotten about the shirt in all the excitement of finally winning and annihilating harry. He also does not say anything when the blonde wears in the very next day and kept looking at the shirt like it had just saved his life, he once again shrugged it off thinking Niall might have considered the clothing his lucky charm after winning. But when he finds Niall wearing it for the third day in a row Louis had no choice but to say something. And it’s not just that, Niall somehow seems distant in the past days and he is always sniffing or cuddling into himself whenever he is wearing it.

 

“So, umm nice shirt mate” Louis says trying to seem nonchalant about the whole thing although the situation is starting to worry the older boy. Louis is pretty sure he had heard the Irish boy talking to the shirt at some point.

 

“Oh, yeah forgot to give it back huh” Niall shrugs simply and Louis can see the slight flinch the boy does although his eyes are pasted on the TV screen, his hands absent mindedly stuffing his mouth with pop corn.

 

“Oh, like you forgot to change it for like the past 2 days. Have you even washed that thing?” Louis ends up asking, the words coming out a bit more hostile that he wanted to.

 

He can easily see the boy’s cheeks turn pink and he starts to stutter as he tries to make up an answer.

 

“I-I-just didn’t-umm-I didn’t notice” Niall lies and Louis is quick to tell him that too.

 

“Niall I have known you since I was 5, and I don’t need to know you even for a day to realize you are lying, you are a horrible liar Niall” Louis points out with an accusative case.

 

“Its-it’s nothing, just drop it Lou” the blonde stumbles out this time a bit more genuinely after realizing he can’t lie his way through Louis, or anyone else really he is a terrible liar.

 

“You have been treating that dumb shirt like it is your long lost twin Niall, how is that nothing?” this times Louis’s eyes are focused on the blonde and Niall finally looks away from the TV screen, but still doesn’t look into Louis’s in the eye.

 

“Do you want some popcorn, you definitely want some pop corn let me just go and-“ before the boy can change the topic or get up from the couch Louis pushes him back with much more force and does not let go of the boy’s pale hands.

 

“Niall” the boy says with a stern voice.

 

“You’ll think I am mental” Niall ends up saying, it comes out more like a whine though.

 

“You dated harry styles for a whole year straight, I already think you are mental Niall” Louis points out waiting for the boy to continue. It’s when Louis thinks of harry that he finally matches the other boy’s looks and behavior through the past days, he realizes it was the same look Niall had when he was going out with harry, his early stages of drooling over the boy and every single thing he did, that is the same look Niall has own his face as he tries to look anywhere but at Louis.

 

“Niall you have the crazy ‘ I am in love with you’ look, why do you have the crazy ‘I am in love with you’ look over a shirt?” Louis end up asking getting a bit panicked because the last time Niall had that look it did not work out too well.

 

“Is it like a taboo thing, like are you in love with a shirt and want to have sex with it like that guy with his car-“ Louis barley gets the time to finish it before he is getting hit on the face with the couch pillow.

 

“LOUIS, what the hell?” Niall asks absolutely mortified at his words.

 

“I don’t know dude, you have that crazy thing going on and I am worried okay” Louis says back with just as much panic in his voice.

 

“No, no. its, it’s nothing like that okay. I am not in love with a shirt for god’s sake. What the hell Lou?, why would you even think that?.-Its-its it’s whoever wears the shirt, like the person who wore it before I got it-I-I don’t know-I don’t okay Lou. I –the shirt is just really nice. Oh my god, I probably sound so creepy and mental-but I swear. It’s like it smells nice and I just, I just want to wear it for long as possible and it just feels good” Niall end up rambling making him more nervous that he was.

 

Louis takes a deep berth realizing he is going to have to be the rational one here. That thought almost makes him laugh, him being the rational one, the things he does for his friends, he deserves the Nobel price award for his sufferings.

 

“Niall, I got it from a girl-it could very well be a girl’s stinky smell” Louis reminds him looking at the shirt in a whole new perspective now.

 

“No, it isn’t it smells very manly- even if it is a girl, all I am saying is its really nice wear, like very soft and just nice, just comfy” Niall says with a look in his eyes that makes him look like a puppy.

 

“Manly???- What the hell? -Niall were you sniffing it throughout the night?”

 

“No, I wasn’t” guilty-puppy look flashes through him at his words.

 

“Yes you where” Louis proclaims loudly for the sake of his own sanity. 

 

“Just shut up Lou, it’s nothing okay-just shut up” Niall says through gritted teeth his cheeks completely pink.

 

But the thing is Louis is such an awesome friend that he doesn’t shut up, that’s against the friend code anyway.

“wow, just give it up to you who could fall in love with the owner of a dumb shirt, who could be 67 years old and have wives and 20 grandchildren, oh my god Niall” Louis proclaims suddenly finding the whole situation funny and laughing to it. He is so bad at being the rational one.

 

“I am not in love with the owner, besides you just said you got it from a girl who was there for the drama thingy. She was a teenager right, besides it fits me and there is no way a 67 year old guy would be able to wear it or might wear it” Niall says with a strange defensive tone that he only takes when someone either insult his choice of food or someone try to do something against one of Louis’s sister, it’s the basic protective defensive tone that is quite rare to the carefree boy.

 

“It could have been her father’s, after all it was a ‘manly’ smell right? Louis says as he bursts out laughing again as Niall keeps reddening with every passing second,

 

“Shut up Louis or I swear to god ill chop off your dick” Niall threatens and it’s not that Niall would actually make it practical but the glare the boy shoots makes him doubt it.

 

“You like someone because of their smell, I am sorry but that’s kind of hilarious Niall, it proves my theory of you being a human puppy. But a fair warning though, this smell can be off a very straight person, or a girl, or someone who has girlfriend or boyfriend” Louis says as his laugh subside into small snickers.

 

“It’s nothing-just a dumb thing-it’s just shirt” Niall says grumbling as a sort of conclusion to the discussion.

 

But what does finally shut Louis up in the fond look Niall gives towards the shirt he is wearing and he keeps on repeating “it’s just a shirt” more to assure himself than Louis.

 

But something inside Louis is telling it’s not just a shirt, not with the wide eyes Niall has towards the clothing item….


	2. Zayn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, i did not get much time to proof read. so feel free to point out any dumb mistakes.

When the collage break began Zayn expected to meet up with a few of his old mates, get a tattoo maybe, finish reading that book for his lit class, breathe in some fresh air and overall just have a break from everything collage, but what he wasn’t expecting was to be stuck in his house babysitting his younger sisters, not exactly his whole idea of fun, but then again it’s not like all his other plans were much effective either, god knows how long it has been since he actually talked with his high school friends since he left to collage, and he is pretty sure his mother will hit him with her fry pan if he gets another tattoo, and clearly that book could wait. So, in short the only thing that he was actually getting done was being a lazy slouch, but still there was a difference between being a slouch and babysitting.

 

His sisters were not exactly 3 years old for him to babysit, but nevertheless his parents had refused to go out until Zayn promised he would stay home and keep an eye on them, and him being the sweet son he was agreed although a bit hesitantly . His parents deserved a break after all, and besides taking care of the girls wasn’t exactly rocket science, he just had to be there to keep an eye on them, and that’s what he did expect the fact both his eyes were on his phone rather than the girls.

 

He was on his phone texting Liam about his unfortunate- which honesty wasn’t that unfortunate- events while the girls were huddled around the opposite couch over Doniya’s phone, Doniya was showing pictures of her friends from that Drama thing she had went to the past days by the sounds his sisters were making. His sister had kindly asked him whether e would like to join but Zayn has seen enough duck faces in his own time to suffer trough those again.

 

So, yeah, that’s how he was spending is evening texting (annoying) Liam, who apparently was having a wonderful week in his hometown with his girlfriend who he had brought with him to meet his parents- while (horribly) babysitting his little sister who in fact were too old to be babysat anyway. It sometimes scared him how the world was moving way too fast before he even has the time to breathe, like everyone around him was moving forward perfectly with their lives while he was stuck in one spot for a long time, for example was his best friend Liam, he had barley completed his second year in college and he was thing close to marrying Sophie and settling down.

 

“Oh look, Zee has the same shirt as that boy in the middle” Safaa proclaims in her cheery enthusiastic tone, It’s his name in the girls’ conversation that gets his attention off his sudden depressing thoughts. But nevertheless he does not do anything other than keep a cautious ear at the girls’ conversation as he spam Liam with texts.

 

“Oh, wait-I think it is Zayn’s itself, look it has that same burn mark on the right sleeve from the time he tried to iron his own cloths” Walhiya says almost fond at the memory, her laughs filling the corners of the living room brightly.

 

This time Zayn does get up and walks to the opposite couch to see what exactly is going on. The ironing incident was a topic he had blackmailed his sisters to never speak of again and he wonders what had brought up the historic memory to his sister. He notices the phone is now in Doniya’s hand and she is looking too focused at it.

 

“Oh. It is Zayn’s shirt.” Zayn quickly takes the phone from his sister’s hands for closer inspection and without a doubt it is his shirt, he had had it for over 2 years. But what surprises him more than some stranger actually wearing his Shirt is the person who is wearing it. He is gorgeous, not like normal gorgeous, like actually –wow, fuck you look beautiful gorgeous, definition of pretty in his eyes, a blonde beauty with a wide grin. And Zayn can’t stop staring at the picture.

 

“Why is he wearing my shirt?” The boy ends up asking, trying to refrain himself from saying the blonde model rather than ‘he’.

 

“Oh, remember that time? Like a few days ago when I asked you if could borrow your shirt, well um-that ended up there. Some guy came up asking for a spare shirt and Eleanor was so determined into finding him a shirt. Sorry about that” Doniya explains quickly a smile appearing on her face at the memory.

 

Zayn does remember Doniya asking for one of his button down shirts because she was playing a guy role in her drama (Doniya went to an all girls school after a certain boyfriend incident, which was another ‘never to speak of’ tradition in their wonderful family), he had just entered the house after a smoke running around the town, it was sweaty and old. He had unbuttoned it and threw it to his sister as joke just to see her squeal and scream at his shirt and complaint about his sanitation before he actually took a clean one and gave it to her the following evening. But what he does not remember is Doniya telling him a really cute guy was going to wear it, oh for god’s sake he hasn’t even washed it in like weeks. The poor boy must have cursed him to death by then. Or worse he would have fainted by the smell, although that does not seem likely considering the active grin on the pretty face of the blonde’s.

 

But by whatever reasons Zayn can’t stop staring, the boy’s face is capturing, like looking at the stars as one try to form a constellation, He looks as if they are the most beautiful thing on earth and Zayn feels as though the boy is in fact his constellation. By zooming in he can see the hint of blue, a blue that doesn’t quite belong either to the sea or the skies, somewhere in between there. A blue so magnificent that it shines through the digital photo, the boy’s grin becoming brighter as it is aimed toward Zayn and his now fast beating heart.

 

“You are not mad are you?. I forgot to ask it back, I completely forgot about it in all the rush. I think they were there for the National acapella tournament, the won- they were amazing by the way” Doniya asks with a glint embarrassment in her eyes of losing her brothers favorite shirt.

 

“No, its fine. Just send that picture to me” Zayn says as he quickly takes out his own phone.

 

“Why?” Walhiya asks with a suspicious look, being her accusatory annoying self, he always like Doniya and Safaa better because they were younger and less of a nuisance that Walihiya.

 

“Because-Because it’s my shirt. Why else?” Zayn quickly lies, but by the way his sister rolls her eyes she is not convinced.

 

“And it has nothing to do with the heart eyes you are shooting towards that boy Saf pointed out?” Walhiya asks in her accusative tone and Safaa looks confused between her older siblings. Zayn just lightly tugs on his sister’s hair as a form of telling her to shut up, apparently that what it takes to shut his sisters meddling mouths up because Doniya sends it without much protest not wanting Zayn to mess up her perfectly made hair.

 

“If you want it back I think Eleanor has that brunet’s number, his name was Louis or something. I am, sure we can contact them” Doniya informs.

 

Zayn just opens the now send photo and looks at the brunet boy with the bright smile wearing his shirt, he looks good the shirt matches his eyes so wonderfully. He just shakes his head signaling No. The blonde looks way much better in it anyway…

 

**********************

 

Zayn has come to the conclusion that since he saw the blonde boy wearing his shirt, nothing in his life will ever go as expected. What Zayn expected was to go back to university, completely forget about the pretty boy on his phone who has his shirt, and concentrate on more important things such as completing his studies, But what happened was the right opposite. Here he was just a few days after finding out about the boy Facebook stalking him. Now Facebook stalking is not a wrong thing, lot of people do it and most of the time it is harmless, unless you are creepy serial killer or something, which Zayn wasn’t but by the way Zayn once stared at the boy’s profile picture for a whole hour when he was meant to be doing his essay could really argue with his theory. But in his defense it was a really good picture of the blonde laughing while holding a guitar. he is pretty sure it was not legal for anyone to upload a picture quite so beautiful. But by the end of that week, Zayn has the boys twitter, Facebook and their groups YouTube Chanel on his home page and also most visited page list. He sleeps without much guilt at the fact most teenage girls do the same thing to stalk their celebrity crushes, but then again he was not a teenager or a girl although the boy could turn out to be a celebrity just by smiling and breathing.

 

He hadn’t meant to find out about the boy, well at least not in the beginning. He was simply googling the name of the tournament Doniya had told about, and Google had generously provided some pictures and information on the school which won and an hour later he was going through Niall Horans Facebook posts from 2011. Again in his defense the boy was witty and posted worthwhile statuses rather than him eating a burger (not that Niall eating a burger would not be hot).

 

Liam had looked at him suspiciously after seeing him searching through the same person twitter feed for 3 times in a row, a look that could actually match his sisters when he had asked for the picture. But Liam being the angel he was hasn’t told him anything by Zayn’s sudden and strange obsession with Facebook (he hadn’t opened his own Facebook account in years until her found out about the boy)

 

“Maybe you should message him?” Liam suggests one day and Zayn almost has a heart attack as his brain process Liam’s presence just behind him. He had once again got so lost in looking at the boy’s picture that he didn’t even notice his best friend behind him. The things the boy could do to him and he don’t even know him yet.

 

“What?” Zayn asks quickly opening a new tab.

 

“Message this Niall Horan you have been stalking for the past 3 days” Liam says in a tone which says ‘you are stupid, what are we friends again?’.

 

“Nah-Its nothing-I was just umm creaking things out” Zayn shrugs, almost face palming himself at his excuse, but god knows he can’t lie, not to Liam ‘I will look through your soul with my innocent puppy eyes’ Payne.

 

“You have been making starry eyes at that boys picture for the past 3 days Zayn,. Are you okay mate?” Liam asks finally looking at Zayn right in the eye, which is bad thing because his eyes are part of genetic eye detector.

 

“ What?-NO-I mean I don’t even know him. The guy has my shirt and I doubt he would want anything to do with me, He is in high school for god’s sake, like 17 or something, oh god I am pedophile. What was I thinking-“ Its under Liam’s scrutinizing eyes that he finally allows himself to panic about what he has been doing for the past days.

 

“Are you putting yourself down Malik?. You are 19 Zayn, I am sure that’s not much of an age difference. Calm down Zayn. Look, what any rational friend would tell you to do is to not go so deep about someone you have never met, but I have seen the way you look at that boy and I don’t have the heart to tell you No, and he looks harmless itself- Although looks can be deceiving. So just be careful, you are my best friend and I don’t want you going crazy” Liam says his stare softening down.

 

“What do I say, ‘hey, you have my shirt, and a really pretty face I would like to do things to’ doesn’t exactly qualify mate” Zayn says laughing at his own failure of a life, oh god, who even likes someone because they are wearing a dumb shirt. Zayn would, oh yes Zayn would.

 

“It’s a Facebook message not a marriage proposal, although I think it would be better if you cut the whole pretty face part, you don’t want to make him run away now” Liam says with a final glance before turning around.

 

“Where are you going?” Zayn asks feeling a bit vulnerable after that conversation.

 

“To meet with Sophia, unlike you my girlfriend is real and I get to do actual things with her” Liam answers just to spite him with that teasing smile and Zayn is sure his swear don’t go unnoticed by the boy.

 

But soon after he leaves Zayn is once again stuck staring at the picture as he thinks of sending a message that does not give the intention that he is pedophile who goes for gorgeous, blue eyes blonde who looks fantastic in blue striped shirts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you...yes you, you pretty person.....


	3. Niall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello....have a nice day dear person. thanks for all the kudos and stuff....its awesome

Perrie had never in her life,- never ever- looks as terrifying as she did at the moment. The reason his blonde big sister of friend almost killed him was nothing more than Facebook, she hadn’t been very happy by her new dress getting ruined due to Facebook and dumb messages out of all the things in the world. But Perrie having far more patience and self control than him, graciously decided not to kill him and settled on him buying her lunch for 2 whole weeks instead. He doesn’t know what exactly it is but him and his friends have a real affinity in getting drinks spilled on their cloths.

 

Niall wasn’t exactly a fan of Facebook, but it didn’t mean he didn’t use it though. He had created one mainly to just keep in touch with all his friends and relatives back home in Ireland. In the beginning it had been fun but then he just lost interest. The reason once again being Harry Styles, unlike most people, Niall didn’t unfriend Harry at their catastrophe of a break up, Facebook relationship status was the last thing he ever cared about when he got his heart ripped out by Harry, Although their relationship status had changed (Louis was the one ho did it for him, a little too happily he might add) he had never got himself to unfriend the curly haired moron. He was sick of Harry’s gloating messages mostly aimed towards Niall and Niall’s school as if he knows Niall was reading all those, so this time, when the actually won, Louis and Niall had decided to gloat as much as they can in Facebook so that Harry would finally shut up and go hide under a virtual rock of embarrassment or something. But sadly enough that hadn’t worked and Harry had retaliated with some dumb comment saying 3 was a bigger number than one, and it didn’t end there either, Harry had an obsession with annoying the shit out of Niall by spamming him with messages and it only increased as Niall’s team won the tournament.

 

So when Niall opened his Facebook (due to the free Wifi in the café he was now seated in with his friends) and saw that he had a message, he had just expected it to be Harry with one of his ‘oh, look I am still better than you’ messages, all the other people on his friend list usually just texted him. But nevertheless Niall had opened it ready to give Harry a piece of his mind, or just tell Louis to do it because god knows Niall can’t yell at someone even through messages for shit.

 

So without a doubt it had been a huge surprise to see the name Zayn Malik instead of Harry-the amazing-Styles. But soon the surprise turned into joy when he read the message saying this person was the owner of his beloved shirt he wore for 3 days straight (Louis had forced him to wear something else or he would shred the shirt), and joy soon to anxiety because how can he be sure this person is telling the truth, anxiety to worry and sadness at the prospect of having to give back the shirt, and sadness and worry to curiously as he clicked to go to the account of the said person, finally curiosity to ‘fuck he is modal’ as he saw the guys pictures.

 

He had jet black hair like the dark of the night sky, his hair styled into perfection as the man-boy (somewhere in between) looked with deep eyes to0wards he camera, he could almost get lost in. It was a simple picture; the guy was smiling fondly towards the camera, his hands buried deep inside his pockets. But still it felt as though it was a perfectly planned photo shoot for a modal to Niall’s eyes. And the best part was that he did not look older than 20 at the max and Louis’s theory of ‘lonely pedophiles’ could fuck off and leave him alone now.

 

It’s not like the thought of the account being a fake didn’t cross his mind, his parents had advised him more than enough about social networking sites and the traps one could fall to, but the account looked genuine enough, with old dumb posts and corresponding family members and old photos. And there is no need for someone to go to such far lengths to steal a worn out shirt anyway. But nevertheless Niall had messaged back asking for proof in the most polite form while at the same time trying not to message out how perfect the guy’s cheek bones were. It seemed the guy was online and soon enough he replied by sending a picture, it is when Niall saw the picture of the guy wearing the shirt, he spit out his coke all over Perrie who was unfortunate enough to sit opposite to him, thus angering the girl and ending up having to buy her lunch.

 

If he thought the guy-Zayn- looked good before, then he had no idea what to say about the picture Zayn just sent, he looks amazing in the blue striped shirt he had memorized so well. The picture is a bit old he can tell just from the different hairstyle, this guy has an arm around another girl and a proud smile tugging at his lips. He thinks of printing it out and framing it in front of his bed, not the girl’s just the guy’s of course, he is pretty sure if he was actually into girls he would have took the girl’s picture too because she looked pretty great to, damn good looking people and their urges to hang out with other good looking people. It’s clearly not fair to normal human being such as Niall.

 

A frown quickly takes over his face as he realize who the girl must be, he has his arms wrapped around her shoulder securely and he is even having a good smile, a smile a bit brighter than of his profile picture and just by going through the guys picture a few minutes ago he knows Zayn Malik is not a person to smile a lot. So the women must be clearly important to him. Niall feels stupid for even thinking a guy like him would even be interested him

 

But before his thoughts could spiral down and end at the conclusion that he is not good enough (a thought he had drilled into his own mind somewhere between meeting Harry and breaking up with him) Zayn has left another message.

 

That picture is at least a year old, it was taken on my sister’s birthday party. My sister is the girl next to me and she is the one who lend you the shirt

 

The message says and Niall forces himself not to jump up and down on his seat although Perrie is shooting him death glares, his grin is so wide that Louis ends up flailing down from the corner where he had seated himself to stare at the couple of guys who were seated ahead of them. He basically drops himself on top of Niall just so he can see what Niall is grinning at.

 

“Hey that’s the girl from that dram club thingy I got your shirt from-Oh-ohhhh, and I am guessing that is the shirt, and that fine piece of perfection next to her is the owner. Wow, nice going Niall” Louis exclaims very proudly as he points both his thumbs up in a good luck sign. Niall just pushes the other boy off of him muttering something about personal space and Louis being wrong about him being a pedophile.

 

Louis winces at that glaring at Niall, but soon the glare is replaces as he finally gets the attention of the pair of boys he was trying so hard to woo.

 

But suddenly it hits him, what is he supposed to reply back now. Can he just ask Zayn to meet up, is that too forward?. Is he mad at Niall for wearing his shirt?, was it something personal and valuble to the other boy? Will it annoy the other boy?, Now what?. The questions keeps bugging his head and just out of pure panic he end up logging off and switching off his phone all under 30 seconds.

 

He doesn’t admit it, but he don’t feel as though he can let go of that shirt and the comfort it provides, the shirt has long lost its smell and his mother had even washed it seeing its condition. But still that shirt held something to him that he can’t describe, the warmth it provides him as the soft cloth touches his skin is now the most favorite feeling on earth to Niall.

 

And honestly Niall has no idea what to do, he knows its lame but he feels attached to the shirt, and he doesn’t think he could let it go.

 

*********************

 

“Niall for god’s sake, you say you want to meet up with him and tap that ass” Louis groans clearly annoyed as he repeats the same words for what seems like the millionth time.

 

“It’s not as easy as you think it is, it’s very complicated Lou” Niall complains, raising his voice in sudden panic as he clutches to the striped blue shirt to his chest, like it will make all the bad things in life go away.

 

“Niall, you got a lost shirt, you found its owner who is really pretty and you like him, you meet up with him, go on a date or 2 and have mind blowing sex, what about that is complicated??” Louis asks rolling his eyes clearly for the millionth time.

 

“Louis” Niall groans again. Louis don’t understand, he knows better than to judge a book by its cover or in his case judge a super hot guy with his super hot body and face, he clearly has Harry has a huge example, And that’s the problem, yes Niall think the boy has an amazing face and he would be the happiest person on earth just by kissing the guy’s lips, but there is more than that. He liked the owner of the shirt before the pretty face came in to the picture and he wants that. And most importantly there is that huge fact that the guy might be clearly straight with a girlfriend who might love the shirt just as much as Niall. All the deep Facebook stalking (through Louis account) has only told him so much, he knows Zayn is 19, Attending a collage which is few hours’ drive from where they live, he has 3 sisters and major in art and literature, Which obviously is not enough for his wandering curiosity.

 

“Niall seriously, so what if he is not gay. You probably would not even see him again after you confess your love for the guy which grew through a shirt” Louis says stretching out the shirt part, because seriously who does that. He has the weirdest friend ever.

 

“I am not in love with him” Niall repeats again groaning loader that Louis did.

 

“The guy needs his shirt back Ni, and you need to let go to. You know it’s not healthy” Louis advises serous this time looking him in the eyes.

 

“Give it a try yeah, I’ll come with you in case he is a shitty person, though I highly doubt anyone would be shittier that Harry Styles himself. So don’t worry, you are even used to this shit when you think about it” Louis says.

 

“I am never gonna live that down am I?” Niall ask finally easing down.

 

”Not in the next million years, seriously Niall Harry Styles, you could have dated anything, anyone, any particle, or molecule but no you went for the most self centered, annoying, asshole in the whole wide world” Louis says again and Niall just laughs.

 

“He was-is a nice person Lou, he just got the wrong faced going open” Niall defends almost instinctively considering they had similar types of conversation when he was dating Harry.

 

“And now you are defending his honor, oh my god Niall, that shirt has clearly driven you crazy” Louis says with an over dramatic sigh that only his best friend can pull off, Louis is once again rewarded with a pillow to his face as Niall laughs along with him.

 

He’ll be fine he thinks, he don’t need a pretty face anyway, he will be just fine, he tells himself just so the disappointment of the choice of rejection in Zayn’s hands don’t kill him inside out. But throughout the day Zayn and his small smile does not leave Nail’s mind no matter how hard and how much he tries. Not That Niall tries too hard either, he has got a pretty face, he wouldn’t mind it popping up around him, if anything he thinks he would actually enjoy it …..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks again. sorry for my mistakes..

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to tell me what you think. Thank you again and i hope it was not self torture.


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